By Kabrina Bowman
Fall 2023
In 1890 on December 25th Oklahoma State University was founded as a land grant university, named initially Oklahoma Territorial Agricultural and Mechanical (A&M) College. The land grant university system that the university is based on allowed Oklahoma residents to gain a higher education in things that were going to benefit them, such as agriculture and mechanics. Due to Oklahoma being a very agricultural land further education in agriculture was beneficial. “Land grants were born from a need for accessible, affordable higher education. The goal was to provide those in rural and agricultural areas an education to everyday life” (Shrum, “We are Land-Grant” 2:53-3:09) The land grant university system’s goal was to make society better and to help people long term. I do think Oklahoma State is leading by example with how land grant universities should continue in today’s society.
To be quite honest the land grant university system benefits the state residents rather than the students who arrive from out of state. Oklahoma does a fantastic job of providing for its state residents. However, I’m from Texas and our land grant colleges are not “reasonably” priced to go to even with in-state tuition. It costs me as a Texas resident the same amount to go to Oklahoma State as it does to go to Texas A&M at College Station, with little to no scholarships from either of them because both my parents are teachers and make “too much money” to qualify for financial aid. So I, no matter where I end up, am putting myself into severe debt. The land grant university system should benefit everyone in their home state. The goal of the land grant mission was for higher education to be accessible and affordable for state residents. That goal is not shown with Texas universities.
I picked OSU l when I was in middle school when I heard one of my older brother’s prom dates talk about it. A few years later I submitted my application and fully believed I wasn’t going to get in. I would full-blown panic at the idea of not getting into a school and my dad would just continuously go on about how I should calm down because I’m “smarter than the average bear.” Something about that always calmed me down. For the month and a half that I waited to hear back, I didn’t talk about it at all due to this irrational fear that I would somehow jinx the results. I blocked it out until my second-period government classes when I would check the application status every two minutes for the whole period. When I saw I got in I left my class and called my mom to tell her this news. My dad was the most excited, even if he would never show it, he had the most faith that I would get in out everyone including me. The first thing he told me when I saw him after my second period was “You shouldn’t have worried because you’re smarter than the average bear.” While I had never been so excited about something so big for me, my best friends couldn’t have cared less. I expected congratulations at least but all I got was how much money I was going to waste for the next 4 years. All my friends were staying in my hometown and were going to community college with plans to transfer close by and I was moving seven hours away.
Something about hearing them say that over and over again, made reality kick in, and realized there was so much more to worry about than just getting in. We didn’t have the money to pay for it, I don’t know anyone going to OSU, and all around we were unprepared for what bigger school preparations would be like. My brothers both went to a small school on golf scholarships and a lot of the pre-college preparations were done by other people for them. Unlike them, I did everything on my own. I paid my deposit with my summer job money remnants. I bought all my stuff for my dorm with every dollar and gift card I got as a gift. I made the plans for my orientation dates. It was up to me to get everything done, while my senior year fell apart by the day.
Every big senior event was coming up fast and I was running low on friends with every one drifting because what was the point of staying friends when you’re 7 hours away? My dad, trying to be supportive, kept telling me everything would be okay and everything would work out when I went to school in the fall. But my worries were only getting bigger about what an entirely new place with new people and new things was going to be like while being completely alone.
I started putting everything to the last second just trying to give myself just a little more time. Then senior year ended with no graduation party and failing plans for the summer. In the blink of an eye, move-in day was a week away and my parents were back at work so I was on my own for all my packing, planning, and last-minute buying. Even after moving in and several weeks of classes I don’t think it has fully sunk in yet that I’m at college and I’m still not 100% sure I made the right decision about where I ended up. But when I’m alone in my dorm room regretting my decision, I know I can just call my dad and hear him tell me I’m smarter than the average bear and it will make everything a little better.
Works Cited
“We Are Land-Grant: Uncommon Preeminence for the Common Good.” YouTube, uploaded by Oklahoma State University, 12 Oct. 2022, www.youtube.com/watch?v=IKUa785coQk.
archiveoklahoma.com 